Letter to the Editor: Great county baseball

Youth baseball activity locally ended early last month with the completion of the state American Legion tournament in Kearns. Local enthusiasts can certainly look back with pride on the 2007 season.

The Helper American Legion team battled all week long in the state meet winning four games before being ousted by the powerful Kearns-Taylorsville combination. Placing third in the final standings was not bad for a team that finished in the middle of the pack in regular league play.

Another highlight of the season, the Carbon White WBBA teams, the minors (age 10 and under) and the majors, (11 and 12 years of age) won the championships of their respective divisions. The minor league team won the state WBBA championship in the Kearns tournament in July. The majors team won the WBBA "little world series" in Logan in August. The local team won the championship game over a strong Morgan nine in a thrilling extra inning game, 8-7, that was decided by a home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Morgan had earlier handed Carbon White its only defeat in the meet. Not only claiming the WBBA title for a Carbon County team for the first time in 40 years, Jordan Blanc of the Carbon White team won the home run derby conducted during the tournament. This was another first since Joe Via of a Helper team won the event eight years ago.

All of the coaches, players, team sponsors and the many acting in administrative roles in local baseball activity are to be complimented.

Rumors have been flying concerning the eventual demise of WBBA. The enthusiasm shown at the recent Logan tournament certainly does not indicate this. WBBA was organized in 1956 as an offshoot of the regular Little League Baseball Incorporated. It was designed as an alternative to the regular little league program as the latter was expanding to world wide participation. The principle in the WBBA organizing effort was to keep all of the players playing baseball with a short all-star tournament at the conclusion of league play as the adhesive to holding the leagues together.

In completing the 52nd year of existence, WBBA has proved to be the proper role for the small communities and neighborhoods of the larger cities. Apparently the WBBA is not prepared to die a silent death.